After digging for quite a while,
Hyūga Hiyasu wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Damn it, Hideki—why did you have to make your jutsu cover such a huge area? This is exhausting."
"So? Are we close?"
"Almost, almost."
After another hour of digging,
Hyūga Hiyasu suddenly became gentler, carefully brushing away dirt bit by bit.
Another hour passed, and finally, a perfectly preserved stone statue of Senju Hideki came into view.
"Whew… dragging you out nearly cost me my life."
Hyūga Hiyasu complained.
He had lived a pampered life since childhood—when had he ever suffered like this?
"Hiyasu, don't stop. Take a closer look—can we move him?"
"Let me see… yeah, we can. There's still blue chakra pulsing in his heart. Seriously, this guy's impossible—even like this, he's not dead."
"Then bring him back to the Hidden Leaf Village and study how he ended up coming back to life."
Aburame Shiken instructed.
"Summoning Jutsu: Eimaru."
"Woof! Woof!"
"Just recovered, huh? You seem pretty energetic."
"Woof!"
Inuzuka Ryoha summoned Eimaru to handle transportation duty.
"Hiyasu, let's do it. Be careful not to break Hideki's legs."
"Obviously! Damn it—he's the one who messed himself up, and I'm the one busting my ass cleaning up after him. Is there any justice in this world?"
Hyūga Hiyasu grumbled, but still got to work seriously.
"Damn, he's heavy."
Aburame Shiken released a swarm of insects to help lift him.
Alright… not enough.
Add more.
Still not enough.
"What the hell did he do? Why is he this heavy?"
Even Eimaru let out a pained yelp under the weight.
"Woof—!"
"What kind of jutsu did Hideki even use? Who knows…"
"Let's go find Orochimaru-sensei. Isn't the sage art from Ryūchi Cave called Inorganic Reincarnation? Maybe we can use it to revive this idiot."
"Achoo—"
...
Hidden Leaf Village,
Inside the laboratory, Orochimaru, who was recording data, suddenly paused.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this…?"
...
Hidden Leaf Village,
Hokage Office,
The trio of higher-ups sat quietly.
Hiruzen Sarutobi kept puffing on his pipe, while Mitokado Homura stared at the empty seat, lost in thought.
"Homura, how about you take over Danzo's position?"
Hiruzen asked.
With Danzo missing, the position of Root's leader was vacant.
A ninja village couldn't function without someone rooted in the shadows.
"Fine, I'll take charge of Root."
Mitokado Homura accepted the heavy responsibility.
"But Hiruzen, Danzo's disappearance must be investigated. I heard he was planning to deal with that kid Aburame Shiken and install Aburame Tatsuma as clan head. Now both Danzo and Aburame Tatsuma have vanished—it's hard to believe this has nothing to do with Aburame Shiken."
Although he had argued with Shimura Danzo many times over the years, their long-standing bond wasn't something trivial.
He often disliked Danzo's methods, but now that he was gone, some things truly became inconvenient.
"No. We can't conduct a large-scale investigation into Danzo's matter. Aburame Shiken made outstanding contributions in the war against the Hidden Mist Village—he's a hero of Konoha. We can't touch him right now."
"Then what? Are we just going to let Danzo's case go?"
Mitokado Homura looked at Hiruzen with disappointment.
Today it was Danzo who was abandoned—next time, who knows who it would be.
"It's not abandonment. It's about priorities. Right now, our most important task is ensuring Orochimaru smoothly takes the position of Fourth Hokage."
Utatane Koharu looked troubled.
"Hiruzen, the atmosphere in the village isn't very friendly. Especially regarding Orochimaru—rumors are spreading that the Third Great Ninja War started because he attacked the Hidden Rain Village."
Hiruzen paused for a moment.
This time, they really had set Orochimaru up.
"So, who are the current candidates in everyone's eyes?"
"Hyūga Hiyasu from the Hyūga Clan, Inuzuka Ryoha from the Inuzuka Clan, and Namikaze Minato. It's a pity Senju Hideki died—otherwise, he would definitely have the highest support."
"Inuzuka Ryoha and Namikaze Minato, huh…"
"Ninja clans cannot become Hokage. That's an absolute bottom line."
Mitokado Homura said firmly.
"Homura, I understand. But Inuzuka Ryoha performed exceptionally well on the Land of Rivers battlefield, and I've heard that the Sand Village brat he completely suppressed is already being hailed as the next Kazekage."
"And Hyūga Hiyasu as well—the opponent he easily defeated has already become the Fourth Raikage."
"The only one who can match them is Namikaze Minato, who achieved remarkable results across all three battlefields."
Hiruzen analyzed.
It seemed Orochimaru's chances weren't very high.
But Namikaze Minato had too close a relationship with those clan youths. If he became Hokage, he definitely wouldn't follow their plan to continue suppressing the clans.
"Hiruzen, why not just directly appoint Orochimaru as the Fourth Hokage?"
Utatane Koharu suggested.
Since nothing else worked, why not flip the table entirely?
"That's not appropriate. Back then, we endured so much criticism, and most importantly, we had the full support of the Senju Clan. Now, where are we going to find another major clan that will fully back us?"
Mitokado Homura voiced his concern.
"Alright then—Homura, after you take control of Root, start spreading favorable opinions about Orochimaru in the village. Let's observe the situation first. If it's still not optimistic, we'll push Namikaze Minato instead. The ninja clans must never get their hands on the Hokage position."
Aburame Shiken, Uchiha Kamito, Hyūga Hiyasu, Inuzuka Ryoha:
You're overthinking this. Not everyone cares that much about the Hokage seat. If you just made Orochimaru Hokage right now, we wouldn't even bother reacting.
...
Hidden Rain Village,
A massive army of ten thousand ninja stood in formation.
Hanzo stood on high ground, delivering his speech.
"I've led the Hidden Rain Village for nearly twenty years. This is the closest we've ever been to joining the ranks of the Five Great Ninja Villages. Once we do, no one in the ninja world will look down on us again. More people will come to our village to post missions, we'll earn more money, have endless food, and live better lives."
"The only opponent before us now is a severely weakened Hidden Stone Village, with no more than five thousand ninja. We have over ten thousand people—tell me, will we win?"
"We will win!!"
"We will win!!"
...
"That's right—we will win! We will ascend to the ranks of the Five Great Ninja Villages as victors. A bright future is calling us! For the sake of the Hidden Rain Village, for your better future—if we do not destroy the Hidden Stone Village in this battle, we will never retreat!"
"If we don't destroy the Hidden Stone Village, we won't retreat!"
"If we don't destroy the Hidden Stone Village, we won't retreat!"
...
"Move out!"
"Yes!"
With a single command from Hanzo, the Hidden Rain army set off, their target—the Land of Earth.
They would force the hiding Stone ninja out… and crush them in one decisive blow.